On Tue, 2008-05-06 at 23:32 -0600, Ryan Simpkins wrote:
> ﻿Does this move give more ammunition to companies like Comcast that
> are
> spreading the message that municipal networks are a bad idea?
No, not yet. It will if BroadWeave can't turn it around but we have yet
to see if that's the case. Supposing they can turn it around it will
prove only that iProvo's closed policies and / or poor marketing and
management caused it to fail. This will be a lesson other cities can
use to make a rational decision about trying the same thing and how to
do it if they do.
> Of course the real issue appears to be the 'backroom deal' that lead to the
> purchase. I wonder who really is benefiting from this. Follow the money.
I disagree. In principle the deal should have been public, yes. But in
practice if it had been public it would have been clear that nobody
wanted to pay $40 million for the risk of losing even more on a network
with a clear track record of failure. BroadWeave (is that a hair
product?) would have realized they were making a mistake. That's my
hunch anyway.
Does Mayor Billings sound really immature to anyone else? "give me a
break" "this is like 'wahoo' for Provo stakeholders". Yay for
politicians who can get into office and still talk like they're in high
school.